"The opponent's chakra is low, push harder!"
Yumizu and Killer Bee, emboldened by being tailed beast hosts, recklessly expended their chakra, whether it hit Itachi or not, even if it forced him to use a substitution jutsu.
Once Itachi's chakra was depleted, their victory would be at hand.
They weren't just stalling. Killer Bee was deliberately herding Itachi towards more remote areas. Once they were far from Kumogakure, he and Yumizu would unleash a Tailed Beast Bomb to finish off the intruder.
The original battleground, a mountain peak, was now in ruins. The three had long since moved on. Under the faint moonlight, a blue flame could be seen rising tens of kilometers away – that was the manifestation of Matatabi. The location was near the Unkai Valley!
On the mountain peak lay nearly a hundred Kumonins, all injured by the black flames. A few unfortunate souls whose heads were engulfed had been burned to death. Most, however, survived, some by severing their own limbs, others by frantically removing their clothes to stifle the spread of the flames.
But the majority had their black flames dispelled by the arriving sealing squad using a sealing jutsu. Their bodies suffered varying degrees of burns, and the mountain peak was filled with groans of pain.
Upon hearing the agonizing cries of his subordinates, the Fourth Raikage, Ay, intensified the lightning crackling around his fists.
*Boom!*
With a single punch, the mountain shattered. Kisame, barely evading the blow, shouted inwardly, "Itachi-bro, Itachi-san, please stop being so proud! Call for backup now!"
On a distant mountain peak, Itachi was constantly being pressured by Matatabi, whose sharp claws raked towards him. This was no gentle pawing; a single swipe would spell his end.
Although Matatabi was agile, its sheer size made its attacks relatively easy to dodge. What troubled Itachi was Killer Bee's constant opportune sneak attacks. Fighting against a fully transformed Tailed Beast and a partially transformed one was truly a headache!
Itachi gasped for breath. His chakra was nearly depleted, and the Susanoo had dimmed considerably, barely holding on. The Mangekyo Sharingan had also consumed too much of his ocular power, blurring his vision and bringing on a wave of dizziness.
Dodging another attack from Killer Bee, Itachi retreated. His body trembled, the Susanoo vanished, and his eyes returned to their normal black irises.
*Is this the extent of my abilities?*
Itachi felt a surge of exhaustion and instinctively reached up to touch his eye sockets.
"Perfect opportunity! Tailed Beast Bomb!"
Killer Bee seized the moment, gathering a pitch-black sphere of chakra in his mouth with a 2:8 ratio of Yin and Yang chakra. He then spat it out forcefully, and the black sphere hurtled towards Itachi with unparalleled ferocity.
Itachi seemed to have given up resisting, his hand covering his forehead, his eyes closed. He appeared to have dismissed the Tailed Beast Bomb entirely.
As the Tailed Beast Bomb shot towards Itachi, ripples appeared in the sky, followed by concentric spiral waves. A green spiral sword shot down from a void, striking the Tailed Beast Bomb's flank, altering its trajectory. It narrowly missed Itachi, blowing a few strands of his black hair.
*Boom!*
A section of the mountain peak exploded, and a blast of energy swept over. Itachi's red cloud, black robe rustled. He lowered his left hand from his eye and looked at the man who had landed beside him, murmuring softly, "You're a little late."
"You looked like you were having fun, so I didn't want to interrupt."
As soon as he spoke, a colossal green samurai materialized behind him. Clad in armor and wearing a Tengu mask, it stood like a man, blotting out the sun!
The green giant hand extended forward, and a spiral sword materialized in its grasp.
"My turn!"
...
*Bang!*
Blood splattered in the air as Kisame was once again sent flying by Ay's punch, his body smashing heavily into the ground. A deep crater appeared, surrounded by dozens of others, testament to how brutally Kisame had been beaten.
Kisame lay in the crater, his ribs broken in countless places, healed countless times. But without Samehada, his recovery speed had plummeted, unable to match the force of Ay's fists.
He was on the verge of being beaten to death!
"With strength like yours, you dare to cause trouble in my Kumogakure?"
Ay stood over the crater, looking down at Kisame. He still couldn't fathom the confidence that had led the Akatsuki members to invade his village!
Did they really think they could abduct a Jinchuriki right under his nose with just two people? That was beyond foolish!
Ay said coldly, "I won't kill you. I'll keep you alive to extract information about the Akatsuki."
"That is truly my honor!" Kisame replied weakly. He no longer wished to fight. Although he had a little chakra left, why endure a couple more punches?
*Let it be like this. As long as I don't die, it's fine!*
Just as Kisame was thinking this, Ay inexplicably felt a sense of dread, as if he were being targeted by some primordial beast. He glanced at Kisame in the crater, hesitated, and then said, "One Akatsuki member is enough. You should die!"
Kisame, who had just resigned himself to lying there, cursed loudly upon hearing Ay's change of heart in less than three seconds: "You, Fourth Raikage, you don't keep your word! I'll curse your ancestors!"
Ay no longer hesitated. Lightning crackled around him again as he leaped into the air, raising his thigh. "Raikiri Senjudaki!"
*It's over!*
Kisame cried out in his heart: *Tsuchi-bro! Save me!!!*
As if he had heard Kisame's plea, a spatial fluctuation rippled around Kisame, and a ninja clad in a red cloud and black robe, wearing a spiral mask, landed beside him.
Kisame exclaimed with surprise, "Big brother! You're finally here!"
Tobi glanced at Kisame. "How embarrassing!" He then kicked Kisame away, facing the Raikage's Raikiri Senjudaki himself.
*Boom!*
Another deafening roar. The existing crater expanded by several meters. Ay leaped out from the debris, looking at the figure in the smoke and saying grimly, "Who are you?"
*I didn't hit him!*
Ay was astonished. He clearly struck the opponent, yet it felt as if he had passed through an illusion. What kind of ability was this?
Tobi brushed some dust off his black robe. The Sharingan in his eye sockets scanned the Fourth Raikage, Ay, and said indifferently,
"Uchiha, Madara!"
...
While both sides were locked in a fierce battle, Lin Yu had already used genjutsu to control Samui and brought her to the storage room of the Raikage's building. As for the financial office, Lin Yu had already emptied it clean, leaving not a single cent for Ay.
However, much like the last time in Iwagakure, the financial office of the Raikage's building only stored a portion of the funds – a mere one billion ryo. This was far from enough to satisfy Lin Yu.
The Kumonin who had received him was so ugly that he owed Lin Yu ten billion ryo for emotional distress, which was still not nearly enough!
"Rare meteoric iron, repeatedly forged cold iron, unknown herbs..."
Lin Yu couldn't help but marvel as he looked at the labels. *Who would have thought these rough Kumogakure fellows were so meticulous, even labeling things!*
*Take it all! I won't let their good intentions go to waste!*
"Are there any other places with good items?"
Samui replied blankly, "The archives contain many strategies and plans targeting Konoha, as well as many classified documents."
"I have no interest in such things."
Did they know more than him, no matter how classified? Lin Yu had no interest in classified documents, and strategy-type conspiracies were useless. Kumogakure's strength was limited, so no matter how many schemes they devised, they were useless against him.
Suddenly, Lin Yu's gaze fell upon an old, dusty box.
Lin Yu took Samui's hand and wiped the label, softly reading, "Precious Memories?"
"What is this?"
Samui shook her head. She had no recollection of this item either.
Lin Yu pried open the lock and opened the box. Inside, he saw a note and several tattered pieces of cloth, clearly showing their age.
Lin Yu continued to use Samui's hand to open the note.
"Precious memories with Bee, I will remember them forever..."
Lin Yu looked at the crooked, large characters before glancing at the ragged cloth below, which bore an imprint resembling a kunai. He was utterly dumbfounded!
*This, this is... underwear?!*
The Fourth Raikage collected such things and kept them in the storage room!
*How perverted is this!*
Lin Yu quickly closed the box and tossed it aside, then slipped his hand into Samui's ample cleavage for comfort.
*Thank goodness I didn't touch that tattered cloth, or I'd have to chop off my hand!*